Canva is bringing the new Affinity app to the iPad on November 3, 2026. The program is free for individuals, and the German interface is included from day one. The app is already available for pre-order in the German App Store.
What can Affinity do on the iPad?
The app combines the three previous standalone programs Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher. In a single file, you have four workspaces at your disposal:
- In the sketch area, you draw freely, and the Apple Pencil transmits pressure and tilt.
- You create vector paths with nodes and curves, even directly over a sketch.
- You edit photos non-destructively, including RAW development and retouching.
- You build layouts with grids and guides, and a document can be up to 500 pages long.
Affinity opens files from Photoshop (PSD), Illustrator (AI) and InDesign (INDD, IDML) including their layer structure, plus PDF and SVG. Agencies that receive client files in Adobe formats can therefore make small corrections directly on the tablet.
What does the app cost, and what does your iPad need?
As an individual, you can use photo, vector, layout and sketch for free, and you don't need a subscription for it. A Canva premium plan, such as Canva Pro, is only required for the AI tools from Canva AI Studio. These features reduce image noise, fix blurry photos and remove backgrounds. You can sign up for the subscription directly in the app.
Affinity on the iPad at a glance
Releases on November 3, 2026, pre-order in the App Store is open
- Free for individuals, no subscription
- Photo, vector, layout and sketch in one app
- Opens PSD, AI, INDD, IDML, PDF and SVG
- Requires iPadOS 18 or newer
- AI tools without a Canva premium plan
- Opening new files in the old V2 apps
Features according to Canva's App Store listing, the app has not been released yet
Sources: App Store, Digital Trends
The requirement is iPadOS 18 or newer, and the app takes up around 1.9 GB of storage. In addition to German, nine more languages are available, including English, French and Spanish.
What changes compared to the old iPad apps?
The merged Affinity app has been available on Mac and Windows since autumn 2025, while on the iPad only the individual apps of version 2 have remained until now. According to Digital Trends, these older apps do not open files saved in the new Affinity app. A graphic designer who works with the new version on a Mac therefore has not been able to continue editing a poster on the iPad while on the go.
Clubic reports, citing a mailing from Affinity, that the files of the iPad app sync with the version for Mac and Windows. Canva has not yet said what will happen to the old individual apps on the iPad.
What this means for you
If you want to use the app right at launch, pre-ordering is worthwhile: your iPad will then download Affinity automatically on November 3. It's best to check beforehand under Settings › General › About whether iPadOS 18 is already running, and free up almost 2 GB of storage.
Ongoing projects in Photo 2, Designer 2 or Publisher 2 belong in the old apps for the time being. It's better to test the new app on a copy, because after the first save in Affinity, the old apps will no longer open the file.
You don't need a Canva subscription just for Affinity, as long as manual cutouts and noise reduction are enough for you. How selections, masks and retouching work together in the new Affinity app is shown step by step in the TutKit course on Pixel Studio, the area for image editing.
Affinity opened pre-orders for the iPad on October 26, 2026.
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